Students get connected and raise their GPAs

In 2006, two University of Wisconsin students set out the change the face of the classic study group. Now, the founders are so confident in their program that they will give $1,000 worth of private tutoring if students do not raise their GPAs through the use of the Web site's tools.

Theclassconnection.com was pioneered by two University of Wisconsin alumni, Christopher Klundt and Ben Jedd. Klundt, who graduated with degrees in biomedical engineering and computer science, said he and Dave Sargent, who was a senior business major at Wisconsin, were discussing their disappointment in study tools for students. There, the idea for theClassConnection was born.

Jedd, Chief Communications Officer for theClassConnection, said, "I like to call it the world's largest study hall … it is a place students can go to have study groups and also study on their own."

TheClassConnection uses the Internet to connect students across the country. Jedd sees the Internet as an educational asset that he believes is not used to its fullest.

"The Internet is a great tool that goes underutilized right now in the classroom," Jedd said.

The Web site is free to students and is run by a staff of five full-time and a few part-time staff members.

Klundt does not seem concerned with a lack of revenue, though and said they will discuss it in the future.

For now, Klundt said they just want to give "a free tool to students that is going to make studying easier for them."

Klundt said the Web site has grown since its launch in 2006 to encompass students from high schools and colleges from across the country.

"Tens of thousands have signed up and used the site," Klundt said. "Everyone sort of finds their own niche of what is going to help them the most."

Though the site has been growing, students like 22-year-old UCF psychology major Stephanie Laos still had never heard of it.

Laos is not alone.

Andrew Derewiany, a 19-year-old political science major at UCF had also never used nor heard of the site, but was intrigued by what it had to offer students.

Derewiany said, "[TheClassConnection] sounds pretty interesting. It is good to have interaction with other people that have taken the class."

Jedd said the site is successful because of the large community of students who share their information and create the "global study hall" environment.

The site offers study groups, tutors and digital flashcards that remind the student when to study again based on a scientific formula that claims to be the equation for efficiency and success in studying.

TheClassConnection uses a scientific algorithm to make a study system that, if used as directed, will raise students' GPAs, Jedd said.

It is this algorithm that gives Klundt and Jedd the confidence to give students $1,000 in personal tutoring if theClassConnection does not succeed in its goal of raising the student's GPA.

The $1,000 will go toward private tutoring with Smartthinking, an "academic support" Web site based out of Washington, D.C.

Klundt is looking to the future of the site to continue the success they have already achieved.

"In an ideal world, [TheClassConnection] could essentially unify education across all colleges, across this country and the world," Klundt said.t